Announcements
Non-Commercial announcements
GNOME Q3 2009 Quarterly report
The GNOME Q3 2009 Quarterly report [PDF] has been published. "Q3 is always a big quarter for the GNOME Foundation and this one was bigger and better than usual. During Q3 we had our annual GUADEC, and GNOME 2.28 was released with lots of preparation work for GNOME 3.0. OSiM Mobile was well attended by GNOME Mobile member companies and products that use GNOME Mobile technologies like Moblin 2.0 and the Nokia N900 were released. We've raised $23,415 through Friends of GNOME so far this year! Our Advisory Board members have been very generous as well and we have many hackfests planned for Q4!"
One hundred million downloads of OOo 3
The OpenOffice.org project has announced reaching 100M downloads of its version 3 office suite. "Yesterday, Wednesday 28th., the one hundred millionth person clicked on the "Download OpenOffice.org" button since version 3 of the software was announced just over one year ago. What makes the statistics impressive is that we only record downloads via the OpenOffice.org website, and exclude for example large numbers of Linux users who generally download software from their own distributor. In addition, many users obtain OpenOffice.org via other mirrors, peer-to-peer networks, CDs, or other media."
Commercial announcements
MIPS Technologies submits code for Tamarin Project
MIPS Technologies has announced a release of their ActionScript virtual machine. "With this announcement, MIPS has released an optimized version of the ActionScript virtual machine (accessible via the Tamarin open source project)- a key component in optimizing Adobe's Flash Player for running on the MIPS architecture. In addition, MIPS' optimized VM executes twice as fast on the 74K CPU core relative to the optimized VM for ARM running on an ARM Cortex A8 CPU."
Premier Farnell acquires CadSoft
CadSoft, maker of the Eagle printed circuit CAD application, has announced its acquisition by Premier Farnell. "You may have heard that CadSoft Computer GmbH and our business in the USA has been bought by Premier Farnell plc, one of the world's leading high-service distributors of electronic components and industrial products. We are delighted to confirm this exciting opportunity for the business and the EAGLE software. Becoming part of the Premier Farnell Group provides CadSoft with a great opportunity to improve on what we can offer going forward."
Symantec releases Linux version of Backup Exec System Recovery (SearchDataBackup.com)
SearchDataBackup.com reports that Symantec has released a Linux version of its BESR utility. "Symantec Corp. released a new version of its bare-metal restore software that adds support for Linux servers and tightens integration for centralized management of server backups. Backup Exec System Recovery (BESR) 2010 will ship this week, but new support for backing up and restoring entire server images including operating system or individual files from Red Hat or SUSE Linux servers won't be generally available until December. Once that happens, it will be the first non-Windows operating system support to be available for BESR, said senior product marketing manager Susie Spencer."
TI announces low power IP camera
Texas Instruments has announced a new low power IP camera that includes a complete Linux application software reference design package. "Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) today announced a new Internet Protocol (IP) camera reference design that provides low power, high definition (HD) video processing for the video surveillance market. The DM368IPNC-MT5 IP camera reference design with H.264 main profile 1080p at 30 frames per second (fps) offers industry-leading compression in a full HD solution, with the complete camera utilizing only three Watts."
Zend and Oracle partner on Linux/PHP web applications
Zend has announced a collaboration with Oracle. "Zend Technologies, the PHP Company, today announced that it is working with Oracle to deliver an integrated and optimized enterprise-class Linux and PHP solution for deploying and managing business-critical Web applications. To extend access to Zend Server -- Zend's complete, enterprise-ready Web application server - it is now available through the Oracle Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). Building on a history of integration between Zend solutions and the Oracle Database, Zend Server also includes out-of-the-box enterprise-grade connectivity to Oracle® Database."
Articles of interest
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal)
A Linux-compatible open-source Skype VOIP client is in the works, according to this article on Linux Journal. "Some have questioned why the move should be of particular import, given the variety of Linux-compatible VOIP options already available. The most obvious is, fittingly enough, the news itself: Skype will have an Open Source client. Regardless of the market, number of users, or general usefulness, any time the makers of a proprietary product choose to embrace Open Source, that in itself is an important event. Adding allies to our community is as important as adding products to our systems."
New Books
Beautiful Testing--New from O'Reilly
O'Reilly has published the book Beautiful Testing by Tim Riley and Adam Goucher.
Resources
Second draft of Free Music Player Specifications ready
The second draft of the Free Music Player Specifications have been released. "It was suggested that instead of both integer and float values, one or the other should be picked. It made sense to have floats in all but one instance (user playcounts), so floats is what I went with. Overall this decreases the spec's complexity a good amount."
Linux Gazette #168 is out
Linux Gazette #168 has been released. This issue contains articles on GNU Screen "revisited", setting up a MySQL cluster, handing 404 errors off to another server, and more. The usual columns and multiple comics are also in the mix. "Linux Gazette is a volunteer-run monthly web magazine dedicated to two simple ideas: making Linux a little more fun, and sharing ideas and discoveries."
Reduce Linux power consumption (IBM developerWorks)
IBM developerWorks presents a three part series by Jenifer Hopper on reducing Linux power consumption, see part 1, part 2 and part 3. "This three-part series is your starting point for tuning your system for power efficiency. In Part 1, get up to speed on the components and concepts you need to fine-tune a Linux-based System x server for power efficiency. Learn how to enable the Linux CPUfreq subsystem, get instruction on C and P states, and determine which of the five in-kernel governors you need to boost power efficiency on your system."
Three For O (Linux Journal)
Dave Phillips looks at the Smasher and Linuxsampler 1.0 applications and reviews The Loadbang Book in a Linux Journal article. "The O is for October, harvest time here in NW Ohio USA. A beat-slicer, a book review, and a milestone release compose this trio of reviews for the Fall season in Linux audio fashion."
Interviews
Negroponte: XO-1.75 goes ARM, XO-2 is canceled (OLPC News)
OLPC News has a report about plans for the next revisions of the XO hardware from an interview with Nicholas Negroponte at Xconomy. One of the changes is that the XO-2 has been canceled, with an ARM-based XO-1.75 planned, and an XO-3 scheduled for 2012. "I've been following the ongoing x86 vs. ARM race quite closely and it's my understanding that they're now closely matched when it comes to the all-important price / performance / power-consumption metrics. What I however cannot estimate is how much engineering by OLPC, Sugar Labs and Fedora it takes to make the current software run, and run well, on an ARM platform. It also remains to be seen when OLPC plans to release the XO-1.75 but I'd be very surprised if it happened within the next 12 months."
Education and Certification
Herrera: GNOME and KDE development course
On his blog, Fernando Herrera announced an online course in GNOME and KDE development that is ready to be reviewed by the community. "Recently we have finished creating the materials for the Application development for GNOME and KDE course we have been working on for CENATIC. It is a modular course, so for example you can take only the modules for GNOME programming or KDE programming. It has been designed for on-line training (using e-learning systems that support SCORM format, as moodle), presential learning or mixed combination of both."
Calls for Presentations
NLUUG spring conference 2010 - Call for Abstracts
A call for abstracts has gone out for NLUUG spring conference 2010, submissions are due by January 5. "This NLUUG spring conference will be held May 6, 2010 in De Reehorst in Ede (Netherlands). Although the main language at the conference will be Dutch, we welcome English lectures and tutorials. There is room for lectures and a limited number of tutorials or demonstrations. During a lecture, the speaker will present their topic to the audience in about 40 minutes. A tutorial will be given for a select public and lasts about 90 minutes."
QuahogCon Call for Papers
A call for papers has gone out for QuahogCon, the event takes place on April 23-25 in Providence, RI and submissions are due by December 15. "QuahogCon is a new regional conference for the hacker culture in all forms. Hardware, Software, Security, Social, Eco Hacking, Zero Impact Living. Like most hacker cons, it will run Friday to Sunday. We'll have two tracks: one for InfoSec topics and the other track will be a mix of all the other topics with a bit of an emphasis on hardware hacking and DIY electronics. Besides our perennial InfoSec favorites, we want to hear from some new voices on a wider range of topics."
UKUUG - Spring 2010 - Call For Papers
A call for papers has gone out for the UKUUG Spring 2010 conference, submissions are due by November 15. "UKUUG's annual Large Installation Systems Administration (LISA) conference will take place in Manchester from 23-25 March 2010."
Upcoming Events
DebConf10 to take place in New York City, USA in August 2010
Debian has announced the location and dates for DebConf10. It will be held August 1-7, 2010 at Columbia University in New York City. This is the first time DebConf has been held in the US. "Every year, DebConf allows new and existing Debian project participants from around the world to assemble, share knowledge, make collaborative contributions to Debian, and build tighter community bonds. Conference costs are largely funded by corporate sponsors who find significant value in enabling Debian's success."
GOSCON to analyze new DoD Open Source Guidance document
GOSCON, which takes place on November 5 in Washington D.C., will feature discussions of recently released government documents regarding open-source software. "Late Breaking News: Two significant newly released documents providing federal agencies guidance and common questions will be discussed in depth at GOSCON DC this week. David M. Wennergren, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Information Management and Technology / Deputy Chief Information Officer US Department of Defense is expected to used his conference Key Note address to discuss that agency's "Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS)" released one week ago.This much-anticipated document is said to have the potential to change the IT landscape with the federal government."
Events: November 12, 2009 to January 11, 2010
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| November 9 November 13 |
ACM CCS 2009 | Chicago, IL, USA |
| November 12 November 13 |
European Conference on Computer Network Defence | Milan, Italy |
| November 13 November 15 |
Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit | Göteborg, Sweden |
| November 14 | pyArkansas | Conway, AR, USA |
| November 16 November 19 |
Web 2.0 Expo | New York, NY, USA |
| November 16 November 20 |
INTEROP | New York, NY, USA |
| November 16 November 20 |
Ubuntu Developer Summit for Lucid Lynx | Dallas, TX, USA |
| November 17 November 20 |
DeepSec IDSC | Vienna, Austria |
| November 19 November 22 |
Piksel 09 | Bergen, Norway |
| November 19 November 21 |
Firebird Conference 2009 | Munich, Germany |
| November 19 November 20 |
CONFIdence 2009 | Warsaw, Poland |
| November 20 November 21 |
PostgreSQL Conference 2009 Japan | Tokyo, Japan |
| November 21 | Baltic Perl Workshop 2009 | Riga, Latvia |
| November 25 November 27 |
Open Source Developers Conference 2009 | Brisbane, Australia |
| November 27 November 29 |
Ninux Day 2009 | Rome, Italy |
| December 1 December 5 |
FOSS.IN/2009 | Bangalore, India |
| December 4 | Italian PostgreSQL Day 2009 | Pisa, Tuscany, Italy |
| December 5 December 7 |
Fedora Users and Developers Conference | Toronto, Canada |
| December 7 December 11 |
Annual Computer Security Applications Conference | Honolulu, HI, USA |
| December 7 December 13 |
Make Art 2009 | Poitiers, France |
| December 12 December 13 |
Django Development Sprint | Dallas, TX, USA |
| December 12 December 17 |
SciPy India 2009 | Kerala, India |
| December 12 | BSD community day | Utrecht, The Netherlands |
| December 19 | New Mexico Linux Fest | Albuquerque, NM, USA |
| December 27 December 30 |
26th Chaos Communication Congress | Berlin, Germany |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Event Reports
NLUUG Conference on Open Web (KDE.News)
KDE.News covers the October 29 NLUUG Conference and has also conducted an interview with the NLUUG keynote speaker Steven Pemberton. "The Open Web and started with a keynote about 'Walled Gardens' by Steven Pemberton. Steven, a researcher at CWI in Amsterdam (Center for Mathematics and Information Technology), has been involved with the web since the 80's. He spoke about the dangers the web faces. One of the major problems he sees is what he calls 'Walled Gardens' - the lack of connections between various (social) networking sites."
Web sites
Announcing Pyfora, a Python forum
A new Python forum has been launched. "I am proud to announce the release of Pyfora (http://pyfora.org), an online Python forum to supplement comp.lang.python and #python. Please feel free to register and post any questions or tips you may have!"
Audio and Video programs
ApacheCon 2009 Free Live Stream (Linux Pro Magazine)
Live streaming video from ApacheCon 2009 will be available starting at 9am US Pacific time (UTC -8) on November 4th. "Linux Pro Magazine Online in partnership with Collabnet and The Apache Foundation will live stream from ApacheCon US 2009 November 4-6. The ASF selected the Hadoop track on Wednesday, November 4 for the first live transmission. Among the speakers on the Hadoop open source Java framework is Apache co-founder Brian Behlendorf and developers Owen O'Malley and Tom White. Alan Gates will speak on 'Becoming a Pig Developer.'" The full schedule of video streams is also available.
Miscellaneous
Hudson: Corporate lobbying against free software
On his blog, Alex Hudson looks at a FUD-filled brochure from SirsiDynix, which is a company that sells software for libraries. In addition to saying nice things about LWN, Hudson points out some of the "highlights" in this brochure that is meant to warn libraries away from free software. The brochure first showed up at WikiLeaks. "As well as the relatively malicious falsehoods being perpetrated against those specific library projects, there are also vague allegations about open source in general – from accusations of Red Hat being 'proprietary' to the highly entertaining argument that the US Department of Defense 'restrict the use of open source software for fear that it could pose a terrorist opportunity'". (Thanks to Colin Campbell for pointing us at the WikiLeaks page).
Page editor: Forrest Cook